Nikki Haley Slams Vivek Ramaswamy for Comments on U.S.-Israel Relationship, Says His Policies ‘Make America Less Safe’

Former South Carolina governor and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley slammed her competitor for the Republican presidential nomination Vivek Ramaswamy for his position on the U.S.-Israel relationship as well as his foreign policy outlook more generally on Monday.

Ramaswamy suggested during a conversation with the Washington Free Beacon on Saturday that he would try to lessen the amount of aid that the U.S. provided to Israel by 2028.

The candidate conditioned those comments on negotiating peace treaties between the Jewish state and its neighbors.

“If we’re successful,” began Ramaswamy, “the true mark of success for the U.S., and for Israel, will be to get to a 2028 where Israel is so strongly standing on its own two feet, integrated into the economic and security infrastructure of the rest of the Middle East, that it will not require and be dependent on that same level of historical aid or commitment from the U.S.”

He had previously told voters that he would reduce the amount of aid offered to the world’s only Jewish state as “part of a broader disengagement with the Middle East.”

Haley chafed at Ramaswamy’s latest comments.

“.@VivekGRamaswamy is completely wrong to call for ending America’s special bond with Israel. Supporting Israel is both the morally right & strategically smart thing to do,” argued Haley on X. “This is part of a pattern with Vivek—his foreign policies have a common theme: they make America less safe.”

Haley championed the Israeli cause at the U.N. and her hawkish bent stands in stark contrast with Ramaswamy’s position on issues such as the Russian war on Ukraine and Chinese aggression toward Taiwan.

Ramaswamy has said that he would be able to negotiate a peaceful settlement to the former conflict and signaled to the Chinese that they would be welcome to take Taiwan once the U.S. achieved “semiconductor independence.”